Monthly Archives: December 2011

While, for me, 2011 was not as a great a year in cinema as 2009 (many of the films I loved from that year I didn’t get to see until Jan of 2010, but still), I found myself loving more films this year than I did last year. In fact, you may notice that although I claim this is a list of fifteen films, it in fact contains sixteen films. There is one tie and I will explain my choice when I get to it. Last year before the year ended I managed to watch 53 new releases; this year I saw 57 (which is kind of pitifully low when you consider how many new-to-me films I saw this year; but that’s neither here nor there and you have to wait until tomorrow to read about that cinematic odyssey). I want to point out that my top five films have not changed since October, but the ten (eleven) that follow have been shifted and adjusted many, many times since then. Probably when I rewatch those films late on this list might still evolve some. I also want to mention that there were at least two films that I wanted to see before the end of the year that I was not able to see (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn); as always, there is no way to know whether those films would have even made the list had I seen them, but I wanted to point out that I’ve yet to see them so that comments of “where is ***?!” didn’t ensue. Okay, enough chatter, on to the list.

Johnny Boy: Hey Mikey, you’re really something, you know that? What’s the matter? You too good for this ten dollars? You too good for it? It’s a good ten dollars. You know something, Mikey, you make me laugh, you know that? You know, I borrow money all over this neighborhood, left and right from everybody, I never pay them back. So, I can’t borrow no money from nobody no more, right? So who does that leave me to borrow money from but you? I borrow money from you, because you’re the only jerk-off around here who I can borrow money from without payin’ back, right? Right? You know, ’cause that’s what you are, that’s what I think of you: a jerk-off. You’re smiling, right, because you’re a jerk-off! You’re a fucking jerk-off. I’ll tell ‘ya something else, Mikey, [lights ten-dollar bill on fire] I fuck you right where you breath, because I don’t give two shits about you or nobody else.

Norma Rae: I’m staying put! Right where I am! It’s gonna take you, and the police department, and the fire department, and the National Guard to get me outta here! I’m waitin’ for the sheriff to come and take me home! And I ain’t gonna budge till he gets here!